Money No More

I'm not sure being able to purchase faster/easier has much of an impact on quickening the speed of life or shortening attention spans. For example, grocery shopping and banking online speed up those tasks, but rather than speed up life, they allow a person to spend more time in other places that possibly make life feel a little more sane (e.g., kids, gym, reading FC, dog beach, etc.). The bigger question I have is how will this impact an already growing individual consumer debt levels. Imagine racking up $1.00 soda charges on your Visa because you waved your phone in front of the Coke machine... Convenient? Yes. Fiscally sound? Not unless you pay off your balance at the end of the month.

I agree with Gretchen - I don't think standing in line at the store helps me "slow down" in the Simon & Garfunkel sense. But the problem of virtual money is that it's harder to track spending. I use my ATM card ever time I buy a sandwich or cup of coffee, and am sometimes wildly off in my guesstimate of what my balance is. I've recently returned to carrying cash for incidentals so that I can have tactile feedback - I can see and feel the thinning of cash in my wallet. But why couldn't we just do a better job of designing the tool? Why couldn't we have devices that show one's balance - isn't my Korean phone smart enough to function as a portable Quicken? I'd love to walk into a store, pick up a coke and walk out with it, having my bank account debited automatically. But couldn't I also program my phone to allow me to spend only, say, $500 a month on groceries, $400 on gas, etc., before giving me a budget alert, and to display my balance at all times? Such a function would combine time-saving features with real-time money management.

Watch out, you independent movement, where and when and what is going away each time you spend using you Credit Card. Wake up people, Take the time to spend cash, a little unconvience will go along way to keeping who and what and when and how much to yourself! Be careful they know how to get you and you all are falling into the trap! For me I spend cash and if they do not take it then I leave! I also ask for a discount because the Credit card companies are getting way out of control. Use the CARDS just enough to keep your credit solid and for reservations! Pay cash when you leave! STAY INDEPENDENT! STAY FREE, DO NOT BECOME A MINDLESS ROBOT THAT FALLS INTO THE TRAPS THE GOVERNMENT AND CONSUMER INFO SETS UP TO CAPTURE YOU. STAY FREE USE CASH!!!!! GOOD LUCK GFI

Here's an Asian example. Many overseas Philippine workers are now sending their monetary remittances back home through their cellphones. By sending an SMS message, they are able to remit money to their loved ones back home. I discuss this in my book on Asian high tech and venture capital entitled Rice Bowl & Chips. Dennis Posadas author, Rice Bowl & Chips How Asian countries are using the Silicon Valley model to develop technology startups http://www.ricebowlandchips.com

There's no question there's a long term trend (strategy?) to become cashless. Many side effects exist, including cumulative transaction fees exceeding existing banking fees so users are paying more, while maybe not even noticing the small rolling snowball of incremental costs. Some will argue that we only pay for what we actually do, so it's somehow more 'fair'. This is specious reasoning and only valuable to the front line PR effort. In the case of credit card players, the merchant will be paying his transaction costs, and then, so will the end-user, a transaction company's dream business plan. Another is lack of anonymity in our daily financial lives. There are many other arguable privacy issues whirling around here as well. Another is granular external control and knowledge of personal and financial behavior. Will this data eventually 'fail' to be protected and become rentable (or stealable) by, well, just about anybody? To celebrate new technological 'convenience' in the exhuberance of an early adopter adrenaline rush is irrational indeed. Privacy controls - both physical controls as well as legislative, identity security, data security, device security; these are just a few of the unsolved issues. And they are definately not solved. While I love the evolving technological environment and want it to continue, to me, it's much like the debates swirling around genetic manipulation of all types - do we know enough?, have we really vetted the long term effects?, have we acted to protect the users? Or are we rushing headlong into an abyss based on best guesses or no guesses? The concept of 'acceptable risk' needs serious redefinition. And no, the credit card companies have not terminatedly solved security issues. And, "logical progression" - logical to an innovator and entrepreneurs, but that logic doesn't come with a priori "just do it because we can, and it'll make money" justifications. And, none of this speaks to an obvous raw issue: being cashless is no convenience when the power grid is down, or the network is interrupted, or your batteries are dead, or devices lost, or something's hacked, or...